I think that you are distinguishing between conventional energy and the second law of thermodynamics (see Georgescu Roegan) and solar energy which (while also taking energy to harness it for many uses) is still and will remain a free good for most uses---at least for the next 3 billion years.
arthur -----Original Message----- From: Keith Hudson [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Monday, January 13, 2003 3:38 AM To: Ed Weick Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [Futurework] La Guardia's Rule Ed, At 21:09 12/01/03 -0500, you wrote: (EW) <<<< Economists have lots of blind spots. Energy from the sun is one of them. Air and water are others. I do believe that they were known as "free goods" in Economics 101. I don't think they are nearly as free as economists have liked to think. >>>> I agree with your last comment but you're missing the main point I'm making. (By the way, what economists call "free" energy and what physicists call "free energy" are entirely different concepts. Perhaps the following makes this clear.) Yes, we and all lifeforms have free goods such as energy, fresh air and water, but it's our ability to discover and manipulate a surplus of energy (to produce true profit) above what normally falls to us from Nature's bounty. In this way we become homo economicus, and not merely another animal species, homo sapiens. Economics is not just about re-arranging things in order to survive. All species do that. It's about discovering an extra available margin of energy that leads to a profit in all transformations and subsequent transactions. Thus, at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution when energy became by far and away the most important economic product of all (besides personal energy, food), Ricardo and subsequent economists entirely overlooked the thermodynamic aspects of economics. (By "thermodynamics" I mean nothing by way of advanced mathematics and integral calculus -- as it's often presented -- but what I hope I have written in a simple way in the preceding paragraph.) If I win David Smith's prize of a free lunch for two, you'd better come over here and I'll explain further at the Royal Crescent Hotel shuffling objets de table around as is the usual way with all great ideas. Keith ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------ Keith Hudson, General Editor, Handlo Music, http://www.handlo.com 6 Upper Camden Place, Bath BA1 5HX, England Tel: +44 1225 312622; Fax: +44 1225 447727; mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] ________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://scribe.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://scribe.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
